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The story
The national team roster under manager Tadahito Iguchi was announced, and reactions poured in on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board. With relatively obscure names like Taguchi as batting coach and Kurano as pitching coach, comments like “Is this a farm team?” started popping up, and questions flew about why Tatsumi was picked for the over-age slot instead of Watarai or Shuto. Alongside complaints about how many low-profile players made the cut, posters also got into the weeds debating the projected starting lineup — turning the thread into a broader challenge of the national team’s whole selection policy.
What people said
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Manager: Tadahito Iguchi
Is he really a better pick than Ishii?
Pitching coach: Kurano lmaooooooooooo
Battery coach: Murata lmaooooooooooo
Outfield coach: Kawada lmaooooooooooo
Is this a farm team?
Stop copying soccer's playbook.
They're not in the postseason, so it's fine.
I wanted to sing his cheer song…
Also, Yoshida really needs some rest.
That's Saraba Seishun no Hikari (a comedy duo)
And the manager's Westland (another comedy duo)
They've got enough on their plates.
Japan's future looks bleak.
With this lineup, couldn't they just use a young guy at the same position instead?
Two of those guys ended up getting released.
He's injured, so it's a no-go.
Shuto probably turned them down.
Then they could've just gone with Isobata
He's not exactly in a position to say no.
Teams still alive in the Climax Series or Japan Series aren't going to hand over their vets and regulars
For a national team game at this time of year, just pull guys from the garbage B-Class teams.
Does Hanshin even have a decent young guy who's 24 or under and still in his first three pro years?
Kudo's about the only one, but the team would probably say no anyway.
2B: Shoji
3B: Sasaki
SS: Yamagata
RF: Watarai
CF: Nishikawa
LF: Watanabe
DH: Yamaguchi
Something like that?
Yamagata batting cleanup? What's that about?
There don't seem to be many lefty batters, so I think they could've added someone like Takatera
Though honestly, getting worked hard at fall camp is probably good for him
More importantly, who's playing third — "Hata-chan" or "Sei-yan" (fan nicknames for two candidates)?
And if Watarai's out there in the field, isn't the bigger question whether Yamaguchi or Masaki should be in the outfield?
Watarai's UZR in left field is the best in the Central League.
It's just listed by position.
If it's in position order, left and right are backwards, dude.
Don't sweat small stuff like that.
You lose this one
Normally you'd just figure it's still position order even with left and right flipped.
Seriously, who even are these guys.
You don't even know Masaki, lol — and it's not that Tatsumi (辰巳), it's a different-kanji Tatsumi (辰見). Are you a soccer fan instead, lol?
That's basically "not interested in baseball" territory.
Background and Key Points
The “OA slot” is short for “over-age slot,” a system best known from soccer’s Olympic squads that lets age-restricted national teams add a limited number of older players as an exception. In recent years it’s also been adopted by baseball national teams built mainly around young players. What split the thread was whether this slot even needed to be used at all, and whether Tatsumi was a reasonable pick for it — some speculated that Shuto or Isobata had turned the spot down, but none of that goes beyond unsubstantiated guesswork. The barrage of “lol”s aimed at the batting and pitching coaches’ names wasn’t a comment on their ability — it was just poking fun at how similar their names sounded — and it’s easy to misread that as genuine criticism of their coaching.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Iguchi Japan Announces Roster lolololololololol.”
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